For those who “don’t know”, Forex Robot is a computer program designed to trade on the Foreign Exchange market without human intervention. They are also referred to as Forex Expert Advisors (short for FX EA, if you are looking for technical terms) or automated forex trading software.
Although trading in the currency market with Forex Robot is as easy as making a passive income (if your robot loses the market) the problem that most Forex robot users end up facing is the small problem they have with MetaTrader 4 (or some other Forex trading platform). PC running 24 hours a day, 5 days a week and connected to the Internet. This is why their robot can take trades when it finds an internal algorithm.
The tipping point for most Forex robot users is when they realize they have a long way to go and this is something they will do for the next few years. When the difficulties of other family members and their reliance on the Internet Service Provider (ISP) become too much for them, they usually start looking for an alternative solution.
The solution to this problem is to host your MetaTrader 4 (MT4) application with a Forex Robot on a remote PC called Virtual Private Server (VPS). There are many VPS providers around the world and most offer online sign up forms that allow you to set everything up with just a few mouse clicks.
A VPS is basically a computer just like yours but sits somewhere else in the world and stays connected to the internet 24/7. You access your VPS through a website control panel that lets you access the remote desktop and you can perform almost any task on your home computer.
Remote Desktop usually pops up on your home computer as another browser which acts as a window on VPS computer. It lets you do just about anything on your own computer.
Some VPS hosts offer special Forex Robot packages where they have pre-installed a version of MetaTrader 4 for your use, or they will install several MetaTrader 4 terminals based on the Forex broker you use. Some forex brokers also provide traders with a complimentary VPS platform, if they meet certain criteria, such as trading a minimum number of lots per month.
Running your Metatrader 4 application and Forex robot on your VPS is quite easy if you are familiar with your own computer. Just login to the VPS control panel (details provided by the VPS host) then find something that will help you manage files on VPS, commonly called “file manager” or “manage your files”. When you locate the directory tree (usually starting with a C: drive), simply navigate to the logical location and upload your MetaTrader 4 installation file and Forex Robot. After doing this, find the link in the control panel called “Remote Desktop” or something similar. Clicking on it will turn on Remote Desktop where you will need to login again. Once you see the desktop of the remote computer and can navigate as usual. Open Windows Explorer and find your uploaded files in Control Panel. Run the Metatrader 4.exe file and you’re off! The form here is similar to loading your Forex robots into MT4 on your own computer.